[This post is part of Corinna’s Guide to Facilitating Retrospectives]
Welcome back!
Up until Covid, all my retrospectives were co-located. It’s the context in which I learned to facilitate and what informed most of Retromat. Today we will go over the logistics for co-located retros and next week we’ll look at how remote retrospectives differ.
Holding space – literally
One way to describe good facilitation is “holding space”. It’s meant figuratively but if the meeting is co-located then you also need to prepare the real, physical space.
Book a suitable room in advance. Get there early to set everything up for the retro. If you’re new to facilitation, make that at least an hour. This time will get lower as you get familiar with everything. But you’ll always want to have some time for last minute fixes and fetching missing stuff.
| Team Room vs Different Room I’ve just now realized that I’m so used to meeting rooms for retrospectives that I didn’t even consider using the team’s room (if they have a shared space). I prefer a separate room to make it easier for the team to get into the retro headspace (“we’re doing something different now”) and so that we won’t be disturbed. That being said, for some activities it is beneficial to stay in the space the team work in, such as “Room Service” or when you focus flow on boards. |
If the room is booked immediately before your slot, prepare your equipment outside of the room.
I always use white boards, so I prep:
- Board Markers for writing on boards and felt tip pens (I like Edding 1200 and 1300) to write the notes. I actually draw a line with each pen and sort out the ones that don’t paint well anymore.
- Sticky notes in different sizes
The expensive ones from 3m, cheap ones fall off the board. Actually, my new workplace provides reusable magnetic sticky notes from Bambook and these work pretty well. They definitely don’t fall off the board 🙂 - Since I’ve prepped my activities in advance, I already know what I will draw on the boards, as soon as I can enter the room. Well, if the boards are clean, which they rarely are. So cleaning the boards, then drawing.
I put effort into a lot of things, but physical boards are not one of them, sorry. Mine are very basic, that’s why I don’t need much time. That being said, teams usually do appreciate extra art work. (I observed that with other more diligent and/or artistic facilitators)
If you use flip charts, your list will look slightly different. Flip chart markers (I’m with the Neuland truthers), maybe sticky notes and felt tip pens, and you probably draw your charts beforehand, ready to hang up. Oh, something to put paper up with: Magnets, tape, needles, … Depending on what background you’re working with.
(Btw, here are my secret tips for more polished flip charts and sketchnotes.)
If you’re giving me a choice between co-located and remote retros (and it doesn’t depend on anything else like travel time, costs, health risks etc.) I’ll always choose co-located, because it gives me additional tools to use:
Body language
Someone’s body language is a valuable (even if sometimes misleading) source of information, not just for me, for everyone in the room! All of this is lost in a video call, and facial expressions are also harder to catch. All the shrugs, frowns, half-snorts, shuffling and turning away that clue you in to ask for clarification. It’s easier to pick up weird vibes and check in, in person.
Position in the space
Where and how someone sits influences how much they will take part. I use this to the group’s advantage. If somebody barely participates I will often try to physically bring them into the fold more: Are they sitting slightly outside the circle or apart from the group? I’ll invite them in.
Depending on the situation, I might talk to them after the retro in preparation of the next one, instead of putting someone on the spot during the retro.
Oh, I haven’t talked about the room setup yet!
For bigger teams (7 people or more) I set up the chairs in a flat u-shape around the whiteboards, with me sitting at one end of the u, so that I can easily get to the boards.
In small teams I tend to just have everyone sit around a table. That means that some people have to turn to see the whiteboard. I usually position the board at an angle at one of the corners, with me sitting next to it on one of the long sides, not the head of the table.
My goal with either setup is to increase the likelihood that team members will talk to each other, rather than with me. When I’m not actively explaining an activity I try to blend into the background.
Take a minute:
What room setups have you seen in workshops and meetings? How have they influenced the flow of the event? What would you like to try in your next retro?
Next week we’re gonna cover remote retrospectives. See you then *waves*
Corinna
PS: Did you know there's a Retromat eBook Bundle? Ready-made retrospective plans for beginners and all activities from Retromat for experienced facilitators. Check out the Retromat books